LEGION: Boyertown stays alive with win

WEST LAWN — Putting a lot of runs on the board early and then not doing much at the plate after that is a bad habit to acquire … especially when a team is going further and further into the playoffs. But that pattern was good enough again for Boyertown in Saturday afternoon’s third-round losers’ bracket contest of the Berks County Legion League Tournament at Owls Field, as the Bears scored eight times in the first three innings and kept their championship hopes alive with a 9-1 win over West Lawn.

Brandon Griesemer threw five strong innings to earn the win and Austin Madeja went 2-for-3 and knocked in three runs for the Bears (27-8-2), who picked up just three hits and an eighth-inning run after scoring four each in the second and third frames. The loss ended the season for the Owls (9-15).

Boyertown will play Exeter at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

“The same thing happened the other night,” said Bear manager Rick Moatz, referring to a 6-0 advantage after three innings in Wednesday night’s opening round that resulted in a 10-2 win. “We get a lead and don’t nail it down. We want to get out of here without using a lot of pitchers.”

“We scored in two innings,” added Griesemer, who allowed four hits and two walks and struck out six. “We’ve got to learn to put teams away right away. If we put teams away, we save pitching.”

But that was plenty of offensive support for the Bears’ left-hander, who threw 54 of his 87 pitches for strikes.

“I started off with strikes (on 13 of 21 batters),” said Griesemer. “Throwing strikes mostly, and letting my defense do it. I knew they could do it.”

The Bears had few worries after scoring four with two out in the second. Brett Moyer (2-for-4, 2 runs) grounded a single past third with one out in that inning, Dalton Hughes (1-for-3, 2 runs) and Zach Moser (1-for-2, 2 runs) walked with two away, and Madeja drilled one off the pitcher that ended up in center field for a two-run single. Tyler Comport and Griesemer followed with RBI singles for the 4-0 advantage.

Then Moyer singled again with one away in the third, Ronnie Mauger was hit by a pitch, and Hughes singled to fill the bases. A fly to right by Moser brought in a run, Madeja singled to plate another, and an outfield error allowed two more to score for the 8-0 score, allowing the Bears’ starting pitcher to relax on the mound.

“You can just throw strikes, work ahead of the hitters,” said Griesemer. “It’s a lot more comfortable. That’s for sure.”

West Lawn scored in the fifth on singles by Matt Folk and Doug Kunkle with one out, a walk, and a sacrifice fly by Nick Royko. But Griesemer got out of that inning on a bouncer back to the mound.

The Bears scored their final run on a leadoff single and steal by Moser and a two-out single by Chase Endy.

Moatz would have liked to have seen more of that in the middle innings, along with a 10-run mercy rule early ending.

“Our offense stagnates because we’re up,” he said. “They don’t understand this type of thing can come back and haunt you.”

Part of that might be because of the relative youth of the Bears and their lack of playoff experience compared to Boyertown teams of the past.

“But we’re getting there,” said Griesemer, whose team will be playing in the Pennsylvania Region Two and State tournaments as hosts. “We’ll be experienced.

“Knowing that we’re already in those, we can work on some things. But we’re still taking it seriously. We want to win our way through.”

NOTESEndy and Matt McCarney finished up on the mound with two scoreless innings apiece. ... Madeja raised his team-leading batting average to .329 and Moser his team-best run total to 36. ... Griesemer tops the team in wins and is now 7-0. ... The Bears have taken two out of three from Exeter this season, winning 6-0 and 8-0 and losing 3-2,